HERE COMES THE CRUISER TRAIN

Mbizi is one of the most popular campsites in Bela-Bela, but when more than 400 Toyota Land Cruisers descend here on one day, camping becomes an afterthought. Year after year, Marius Opperman tries to see how many Cruisers they can get together on the same day – and then they see how many of those vehicles they can get to drive in convoy. Marius understands the logistics of this type of event, because he’s involved in Afrikaans pay-channel kykNET’s outdoor expos. Last year they managed to get 427 Cruisers together, and 359 of them drove in a 22 km long convoy. This year, however, the record was shattered. Cruiser owners who wanted to partake had to register and then specify with what type of Cruiser they were coming. Any model – from an FJ Cruiser, Prado, Cruiser 79 bakkies to the Cruisers 76 and 200 – were allowed. Even Lexus models were welcome. On this day no fewer than 431 Land Cruisers gathered at Mbizi, of which 415 drove in the convoy. It was 23 km long and they drove an average speed of 30 km/h. After the first car in the convoy pulled off, the last one had to wait 40 minutes before it could take off. The Cruiser with the highest mileage on the clock was Pieter Baninga’s 1975 model F45 with a whopping 2 600 000 km to its name – yes, 2,6 million! – while Jacques Odendaal travelled the farthest distance to get to the event: 1 567 km from Kuils River. Contact Marius Opperman 082 570 5758